Fluid pump seal



Feb. 11, 1941. L. s. SHELDRKCK ETAL FLUID PUMP SEAL Filed July 25, 1958. 2 Sheets-Shet 1 ((51 rm Q7", 8M

INVENTORS. lav fli i 04 ATTORNEYS.

WIT/V555 Feb. 11, 1941-- L. $.SHELDRICK ETAL 2,231,690

FLUID PUMP SEAL 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Filed July '25, 1938 an? SW 4. 7.

INVENTORS ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 11 194i UNITED FLUID PULIP SEAL Laurence S. Sheldrick, Dear-born, and Adolph F. Eckert, Detroit, Mich, assignors to Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Mich, incorporation of Delaware Application July 25,1938, Serial No. 221,118 1 Claim. (o1. 286-7) The object of our invention is to provide an A bushing l6 extends through the upperend of improved pump seal especially adapted for use the housing [2, which bushing is in axial alignin connection with the water pumps which circulate the cooling fluid used in internal-combustion engines. Our improved seal is adapted for use in place of the conventional stufiing box or in place of other types of packless seals.

The advantage of this construction is that the seal is of simple, durable and inexpensive construction.

A further advantage of our improved construction is that the pump parts may be assembled by relatively unskilled labor and still the seal will be uniformly correct in operation. With these and other objects in view, our invention consists in the arrangement, construction and combination of the various parts of our improved device, as described in the specification; claimed in our claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a front view of a V-type engine having water pumps equipped .with our improved seals secured to the front ends of the cylinder blocks.

I Figure 2 is a sectional view, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2. v

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, similarto Figure 2, showing an alternate construction.

Figure 5 is a sectional view, taken on theline 5-5 of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is a sectional view, similar to Figure 3, showing still another alternate construction.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, we have used the reference numeral l0 to indicate the cylinder blocks of an internal-combustion engine. Ourimproved pumps are detachably secured to the front ends of the blocks I0 by means of a plurality of cap screws H. Our pump comprises a housing l2 having a water intake passageway l3 cored therein which passageway ex-- tends the-full height of the housing l2. The lower end of the housing I2 is provided with a cylindrical flange M formed thereon for the ready attachment of a hose from the vehicle.

ment with the opening IS. The ends of the bushing are mounted in bosses I1 and I8, respectively. A shaft I9 is rotatably mounted in the. 5 bushing I6 and projects from each end thereof, the outer end of the shaft having a pulley 20 fixed thereto while an impeller 2| is secured to the inner end of the shaft. The impeller 2| is adapted to rotate withinan annular recess in the water jacket of the block ill, the impeller having radially extending blades 22 formed thereon,

the' edges of which closely abut the housing I2 around the opening l5. Thus, rotation ofthe l5 shaft l9 causes fluid to be drawn through the passageway l3 and opening l5 and be discharged by the blades 22 into the water jacket of the cylinder block.

The fluid seal which forms the basis of this 30 I invention is interposed between the impeller 2| and the inner face of the boss l8. It will be noted that the inner face of the boss I 8 and the inner end of the bushing l6 are machined to a flat radially extending surface 25 and that a carbon 5 disc 24 is fltted over the shaft l9 in position abutting'the surface 25. The side of the impeller 2! adjacent to the disc 24 is machined to a conical shape, as shown at 21. A toroidal shaped ring 26 of resilient rubber is interposed between the conical portion 21 of the impeller 'and the rear face of the carbon disc 24. The parts are so proportioned that when the inner side of the pulley 20 is abutting the boss ll, the conical end 21 will push the ring 26 against the adjacent 45 side of the ,disc 24 and also tension the ring. When the ring 26 is under tension it attempts to move towards the left in Figure 2 to thereby urge the disc against the adjacent face of the boss I8. A unique feature of this construction is that the ring 26 serves not only to resiliently press the carbon disc against the boss I8 to form a fluid seal between these members, but also forms a seal between the outer face of the carbon disc and the conical end of the impeller. Thus,

fluid cannot enter around the shaft I! from between the impeller and the disc 24.

The coeflicient of friction between the impeller and the rubber ring 26 and between the disc 24 and the ring 26 is considerably greater than the coefficient between the disc 24 and the relatively smooth surface of the bass IS. The ring 26 is therefore used as a driving member to rotate the disc 24. In all other packless seals wherein a rubber member coacts with the rear face of the sealing disc and with the shaft to exclude water therebetween' auxiliary driving means have been required to rotate the sealing disc. Further, in all of such constructions a spring was required to press the disc against the seat. The appiicants, by the provision of a single toroidal shaped resilient ring, provide means for driving the carbon disc, means for sealing the space between the disc and the impeller, and means for urging the disc against the radial sealing surface to thereby materially reduce the cost of the structure.

It may be well to mention that the cost of this fluid seal is still further reduced because of the elimination of driving teeth heretofore required on such seals. The full area of the applicants carbon disc is used as the sealing surface. The

carbon used in such discs is relatively expensive To assemble, it is only necessary toiliary spring is used to assist in tensioning the toroidal ring member. The ring member is shown by numeral 29 from which it will be seen that a flat bottomed groove 30 is molded around the periphery of the ring. A spring 3|, formed of fiat clock spring wire, is snapped into place in the groove 30, the ends of which spring overlap to resiliently augment the tension of the rubber of the ring.

In Figure 6, We have shown still another form of toroid in which a coil spring 32 is molded within the rubber to assist in tensioning the member.

Some changes may be made in the arrangement, construction and combination of the various parts of our improved device without departing from the spirit of our invention and it is our intention to cover by our claims such changes as may reasonably be included within the scope thereof.

We claim as our invention:

A fluid seal especially adapted to seal the joint between a rotating shaft and a stationary housing, said shaft having a rotor fixed thereon in position adjacent to said housing, and said rotor having a cone shaped surface thereon positioned with its small end adjacent to said housing, a flat carbon disk loosely mounted upon said shaft between said impeller and said hous- 

